Mexican Coke in US will still use cane sugar

NEW YORK (AP) - Fans of "Mexican Coke" in the U.S. need not worry about any sweetener changes.

Americans who buy the glass bottles of Coke exported from Mexico may have been dismayed by recent online reports that a Mexican independent bottler planned to switch from sugar to fructose to cut costs. Unlike the exported bottles of "Mexicoke," Coke drinks made in the U.S. are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup.

Arca Continental, the Mexican bottler, stressed in a statement that it has no plans to change the sweetener for the Coke bottles it exports. Those will continue to use 100 percent cane sugar, it said. The company's CEO said last week that the bottler could consider using more fructose, but that was only for drinks distributed in Mexico.

The company's drinks sold in Mexico are already sweetened with a mix of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.

In the U.S., Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. switched to the corn syrup, which is cheaper, in the 1980s.